Samsung faces new Android challengers from China

There are plenty of Android vendors out there, yet somehow Samsung dominates the field. It’s devices are considered the de facto flagships of the Android market and Samsung sells more devices and makes more profit than all of its Android competitors combined. That may soon change, though, thanks to challengers like ZTE and Huawei entering the flagship Android smartphone arena.

I wrote this blog post about the threat to Samsung from new Android devices out of China:

Android is the king of the mobile hill and Samsung is the dominant player among Android mobile devices. Samsung has reigned relatively unchallenged as the de facto vendor of premium flagship Android devices, but there are some new rivals getting ready to challenge Samsung and take the flagship Android crown.

The latest information from Net Market Share shows Android with 52.14 percent of the overall mobile market. That figure is actually low compared with some other sources. Data from Gartner shows that Samsung leads in global smartphone sales with nearly double the sales volume of second place Apple. Devices like the Samsung Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, and Galaxy S6 Active are viewed as the cream of the Android crop and the primary contender when pitting Android against iOS and the Apple iPhone line.

Samsung is so dominant among Android manufacturers that it is almost more synonymous with Android than Google—the company that originated and actually drives development of the mobile operating system. A recent reportfrom the Wall Street Journal claims that Apple raked in 92 percent of the profit in the smartphone industry—with Samsung pulling in about 15 percent. If you’re confused by the fact that 92 plus 15 is more than 100 percent, the difference is due to the fact that other smartphone manufacturers actually lost money.

While Apple watches from atop its mountain of cash, new rivals from China are ready to take on Samsung for the Android flagship title and fight for a chunk of that distant second place profit margin. ZTE recently unveiled the Nubia Z9, and Huawei just unveiled the Mate S this week at IFA in Berlin.

Granted, this isn’t the first time a competitor has tried to go head-to-head with Samsung in the premium flagship smartphone department. Motorola and LG both offer exceptional devices of their own. The difference, though—which could make this a whole different challenge—is that these competitors are from China, which is a massive market for mobile devices.

See the full story on Forbes: New Android Flagship Devices From China Set To Take On Samsung.